More about wizards by kunadam

[Ahglock]

Yes but I believe he was talking about the standard long distance Teleport. Call me unimpressed but I've never felt that Teleport or Raising the Dead were "game breaking." I liked them because they drove home the changes implicit in the powercurve between levels. The game WASN'T supposed to play the same at high level as low level and that gave the steady increase in power a flavor I liked. Restricting these things makes the game play more similarly at levels where it needs differentiation to show the players how far their characters have come and maintain interest.

Exactly how i see it.

 

[Voss]

Teleport to the other side of the secret door in the room. They'll have to take time to find it, and then the chase is on.

As for catching Bob when she's in one place for an hour. Well, thats a challenge in and of itself. You've got to do some groundwork and put some effort into the assassination attempt, rather than just pop in, grab the XP and go home.

 

[Rechan]

I don't really see 30' as much of an escape spell. Thats more of a he kills me 2 seconds later spell.

Unless you teleport one floor down, or into the next room, etc.

Call me unimpressed but I've never felt that Teleport or Raising the Dead were "game breaking."

Teleport is just "Eh" to me because it cuts out travel. I like a little "You still have to get there."

Raise dead is more an issue to me because I don't think it should be at all common. The God of the Dead isn't going to let you just waltz out of his clutches without trying to get his property back, et al. This is why I like the implication that you have to go hunt down your dead buddy in the Shadowfell.

 

[Li Shenron]

Teleport is just "Eh" to me because it cuts out travel. I like a little "You still have to get there."

I think that most of the problem is because we gamers think too much and read too little

If you look at the PHB Teleport table, the spell requires at least to have a Description to give a chance of working. And then it says: "Description" is a place whose location and appearance the character knows through someone else’s description, perhaps even from a precise map.

Maybe too many people assumes that the name of the place counts as a "Description". Uh, and location doesn't simply mean "somewhere far in the north".

These spells are more controllable by the DM than many gamers think.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I am a big fan of the idea of rituals meaning that some current combat spells are taken out of combat - and that long range teleports and easy access to raise dead (or improved versions thereof) are made less commonplace.

It's really starting to look as though characters, whilst having more power in some ways, are still going to have to work hard in other ways to earn their keep. An end to buff-scry-teleport is very welcome, as is "I wake up and cast all my daily buffing spells" biting the bullet.

The wand/orb/staff idea is also something I support - allowing Wizards to gain some more flavour and difference from one another, allowing magic items to be more of a key, giving me immediate ideas for villains (if the PC always uses a wand, bring a series of other wand-using wizards against him and make him prove himself!).

Not sure about having to wait for later books to use other classes with other powers, but depending on the SRD situation, that might not be too bad.

 

[D.Shaffer]

I'm feeling like they're stealing their marketing from Magic the Gathering and other collectible games. Buy the starter set, but buy the expansions if you want all the rules. The problem isn't that wizards don't have the variety of spells that they used to (well, that's a problem, but not the big one), but that the DM can't create the necromancer, enchanter, bard, druid, or whatever else isn't there anymore.

How is this different from any other RPG that releases Splat books? It's not like this is something new that sprung up with 4th ed. In 3rd, there were numerous archtypes that were difficult to create effectively until we received the various expansions.

 

[GreyWanderer]

Implements/Tools

Like everyone else, I have no clue what Wizards is up to beyond what I've read here and on their website.

In the Witches & Shaman supplement I wrote (shameless plug below) I introduced Tools, which grant benefits when used in spellcasting (such as a Shamans staff being their divine focus). Their chosen Tools allow them to ignore material components and are used as the focus of certain spells (such as shillelagh). I also have new spells that specifically enhance their chosen Tools.

The earliest drawings of Shaman show them using staff, and a Witches use of broom and athame is well known. I like tying fluff & crunch together.

I suspect something similar awaits us in 4th Edition. Looking forward to it myself, even if they did steal my thunder (mine was posted the last week of June). :/

http://www.ukg-publishing.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=118

 

[Danzauker]

Ugh! The death of magic schools is the first major 4E crimp in my exisitng homebrew. I had a zodiac-like set of demigods, each representing one of the schools. Back to the drawing board on that one...

I just noticed this! I did something like this, once!

Basically, schools were all associated with one alignment (except True Neutral) and one "patron deity". Starting from LG and going along the "Great Wheel" the schools were: Abjuration (LG), Divination (NG), Transmutation (CG), Illusion (CN), Necromancy (CE), Evocation (NE), Summoning (LE), Enchantment (LN).

I know the arrangment looks a bit arbitrary in some cases, but it was justified by fluff IMC. The system was developed for a magocracy where the cult of magic substituted divine magic and clerics, so there were lots of cultural and moral motivations

All the Good schools were White Magic, the Evil were Black Magic, and the Neutral were Red Magic. A White Magic Wizard specialist had to choose it's "opposing" school as barred, and if he had to choose another it could not be another White School. The opposite was for Black Magic Wizard. Red Magic Wizards could choose any school.

Well, I liked that even if I used only shortly. I guess I can not import it easily in 4e.

 

[Ahglock]

Unless you teleport one floor down, or into the next room, etc.

I guess I run to many wilderness adventures where 1 floor down just means a world of pain.

But yes, your point and others is solid. As I mentioned I think it can add some dynamic chase scenes into the game, and I think it works well for the levels 1-10, but beyond the heroic tier I guess I expect more. Once you are slaying dragons bamfing 20 miles doesn't seem like a big thing to me.

 

[Zurai]

Unless you teleport one floor down, or into the next room, etc.

Man, you clearly never played the old Wizardry games! Blindly teleporting 1 floor down was asking for your entire party to be irretrievably teleported into a stone wall. I hated teleport traps in those games!